SHUAI CHIAO’S

Do you want to practice your throws, but no one wants to be thrown? Are your training partners just not interested in taking the punishment so you can get your moves down? Wouldn’t it be great to have a throwing partner who never gets tired, never gets sore, and is always up for one more throw? Well, the shuai chiao one-sided rock pole may just become your new training partner.

Shuai chiao is a modern fighting style built on thousands of years of Klingon-like contests in Northern China and Mongolia. Many of the ethnic groups in the region have their own variations of shuai chiao skills, as its training produced skills that were immediately available and therefore popular as a form of self-defense and entertainment. Technical skills similar to those contained in shuai chiao can be found in

Mongolian boke, Korean ssireum, Japanese sumo and judo, and even Russian sambo, Scottish backhold wrestling and Swiss schwingen. For many, fighting in the dirt pits of the northern steppes of China was a way to build true combat skills against opponents who were eager to defeat them.

Combat Giant

For thousands of years shuai chiao, its antecedents and cousins, flourished tftf BlAI as one of the A primary training methods for combat skills. As a form of jacketed wrestling, shuai chiao was easily modified to full-contact usage, and is often seen as the root of Chinese quan or fist styles.

In the modern era, shuai chiao as a martial art reached its apex of development at the Central Nanking Martial Arts Institute, which was founded in 1927. There, General Ma Liang wrote a textbook called, Neiu Martial Arts -Shuai Chiao, and featured shuai chiao techniques combined with striking techniques.

According to master David Lin, this development reached its high point when Chong Feng-Yen became the head coach at the Nanking Institute. Many great fighters were produced in this era, including the legendary Chang Tung Sheng, who was known as The Flying Butterfly, because of his gflB remarkable throwing ability. It was master Chane’s stu-dents who brought this art one-sided rock pole looks like something out of a picture book of old-time strongman tools. And it is, only these strongmen were interested in throwing you. Originally constructed of a metal or wooden rod about two inches thick, with a concrete wheel on the bottom, the modern version is constructed of two-inch circumference galvanized pipe, welded to a 20-pound (for beginners) weight plate. A length of string is tied around the pipe and stretches out about two feet. This simple, unassuming tool can help you get to the top of your throwing game.

Imagine the Possibilities

True to shuai chiao philosophy, the many ways you can practice with the one-sided rock pole are limited only by your imagination. But it is important that one not attempt to use this device without an experienced instructor’s guidance; misuse can result in crippling injury or even death.

Let’s focus on some skills that readily apply to basic throws in shuai chiao and how you can use the one-sided rock pole to improve your skills. We’ll cover four methods: steal step to chopping; waist control lift; steal step to reaping; and shaving.

A quick technical note before we begin: shuai chiao uses many strategies that evolve from its overall doctrine. One of these theories is the fixed hand and moving hand. This concept is important, not only in executing throws, but also in avoiding serious injury when practicing with the onesided rock pole. The theory works like this: When you engage an opponent, one limb will either create a fulcrum or lock the opponent’s body onto a fulcrum created by some other part of the body. The other limb applied is the moving hand. Not being locked in — keep in mind that being locked in is a momentary action — it is free to choose its attack and manipulate the opponent in the most efficient way possible. Completion of the throw merely requires the transfer of the rest of the kinetic force.

Steal Step to Chopping

The steal step maneuver is often to the United States.

During the heyday of shuai chiao’s development at the Nanking Institute, many fist styles were incorporated into the practice of shuai chiao.

This method continues today, as shuai chiao offers a unique training methodology and set of principles that allow the skilled practitioner to learn from experience and adjust his skills to fit his ability and temperament. Shortcut To Skills

This author studied under Dr. Brian Wu, a master shuai chiao instructor who was a student of Chang Tung Sheng. In Dr. Wu’s shuai chiao club, the training hall was filled with experienced martial artists from a wide variety of systems, such as long fist, northern shaolin, xing-yi, and even southern praying mantis, who were seeking to improve their combative skills. This unique Chinese precursor to mixed martial arts attracted skilled players because it truly was the shortcut to good martial art skills. You can see many quan methods mixed in with the combat shuai chiao, which were then given room on the fighting floor to test its effectiveness. Combat shuai chiao offers a complete methodology and teaches the student how to fish rather than just giving him a diet of techniques. Once the principle is understood, the options are endless. And the proof of your effort is found on the mat.

Dr. Wu always taught that there was more to training than the technique; that you must understand the idea behind it and try the idea out in free fighting. But to be successful in free fighting, you need to develop the right attributes to pull off the technique. Here is where we come back to our friend, the one-sided role pole.

Shuai chiao is an art that focuses on high velocity. However, throwing obviously has limitations; you can only throw your training partners so many times, and when no one is around, how do you get practice? Well, the long line of skilled players that have gone before us have left a rich legacy of training methods designed to help the shuai chiao exponent do just that.